Side Street Inn, Honolulu, HI

Side Street Inn
1225 Hopaka
Honolulu, O'ahu, HI 96814
808-591-0253
http://www.sidestreetinn.com/
Open daily, 2pm-2am.
It's on a small side street not far from the Ala Moana Center.
Very little side street parking available. There's a pay parking structure across the street - park in the upper levels. Valet available in the evenings.

Visited: August 2010, Dinnner, Dine-in

Side Street Inn is a large casual bar that serves great food. There are a ton of TVs around, and all in all, it seems like folks are having a good time. Chef/owner Colin Nishida has created a great menu of local flavors with a few high end touches thrown in here and there. Side Street Inn is supposed to be a favorite of locals and chefs alike, and I can see why.

Everything is served small plate or pupu style. Yes, everything is served to share, like a pupu or appetizer, however there is nothing small plate about it. The portions are very large. We wish we knew how large before we set to ordering.

We had the 12 ounce New York Steak (market price) which came on a sizzling black plate atop onions and mushrooms. The steak itself was rather plain, but very tender and tasty on its own. The mushrooms were heavenly! They continued to sizzle away in some type of non-visible buttery garlicky goodness, so it was quite a surprise to get so much flavor bursting forth.

We tried one of the specials, a combo of pork buns. Chinese BBQ Pork / Cha Siu and Chinese Roast Pork served with steamed white buns. Except for the mustard drizzled over the cha siu, these were delicious. The buns were a tender texture, however we could have used more buns. The roast pork with its crisp skin and touch of plum sauce was the perfect analog for Peking duck.

We had their Side Street Works Fried Rice ($15.00) which was loaded with quite the assortment of pork - cha siu, lop cheng, bacon, Portuguese sausage, and possibly more. It was a very good fried rice, however, with so many goodies, it soon became hard to distinguish all of the yummies. I think I would have preferred a simpler bacon fried rice, or a cha siu fried rice, for example, to really be able to savor it properly.

And lastly we had the Fried Saimin which was also a very large portion. It had a great flavor and was loaded with egg, kamaboko, Portuguese sausage and spamelope.

All in all, we enjoyed our meal, we just ordered waaay too much food. Their Pan Fried Island Pork Chops and Baby Back Ribs are also supposed to be delicious - so we'll try those next time.